Gold and Silver
by GraciellaRed74
Summary: What if Grecia had been separated from Daryl and the rest of the group the night the walker herd tore up Hershel's farm? And what if she managed to make her way to Woodbury? Grecia/Merle with other characters to come. Rated MA


_Disclaimer #1:__ I do not own any characters from "The Walking Dead." They are the property of Robert Kirkman, Glenn Mazzera and AMC. No money is changing hands in the writing, reading or distribution of this story._

_Disclaimer #2:__ Any similarities to any specific persons, living or dead, is unintended._

_Summary:_ This story is a pseudo _sequel_ to my Daryl/Grecia fic "_Badass & Beauty_" (which I am still working on, and I apologize for my long neglect of it!) So, for all you Daryl/Grecia fans, don't panic; "Badass & Beauty" DOES NOT END THE WAY IT IS SAID TO END IN THIS STORY. But for the next few chapters, let's assume that Grecia was separated from the group the night the walker herd crashed the farm. This is the story of **Grecia** and **Merle's** reunion in Woodbury, their trials, their tribulations and their triumphs. **Other characters from "Badass & Beauty" and also TWD Season 3** will make eventual appearances, but right now, I'm keeping you in the dark about just who they may be. Please enjoy and please feel free to share your thoughts and comments! I am nothing without the feedback of my readers! Your input, questions and suggestions are always invited and encouraged! My readers have always taught me more about writing than any class I've ever taken, and I thank you for all that you have taught me so far! I am anxious to learn even more from you! - _Rated MATURE for eventual violence and graphic sexual descriptions._

**Gold and Silver**

**Chapter 1** – Stop Crying (_Total words: _4,306)

The front door creaked and opened, the keys being flung down onto the library table without a care. It was dark, and late, and Grecia lay there under the mismatched sheets listening to the noises and growing surlier with each sound she heard from downstairs. He'd have a fight on his hands tonight when he strode into this bedroom; that was for certain! He was back…at near about 2:30am or so she figured…2:30am…just come waltzing through the door stark in the middle of the night like he expected she'd be happy to see him…

Happy…life might have been good here, Grecia had status here; she lived in one of the nicer repurposed apartment type lofts, over top of the clothing boutique that it had been her own idea to open here in Woodbury. There hadn't been a fatality, or an attack, or even a biter within the walls of Woodbury for going on a solid year; but these late, dark nights…they were a constant source of worry and anxiety more potent than any she'd ever experienced before. Woodbury was the safest place there was now, but that safety had a price…late, dark nights, the sudden creak of the front door and footsteps on the stairs…outside the massive walls of mounded tires and tractor trailer containers that made this dot of a town the little oasis of security that it was, the world was still shit…dead, ravenous, dangerous shit…

She didn't want him to know she was still awake, her eyes slamming shut as soon as she heard the footsteps that fell carefree, like bricks up the stairs. Nothing good would come of him seeing that she was still awake; he'd know she had been the whole time he'd been gone…the whole time. The anxiety that ravaged her all night finally subsided, replaced by irritation and aggravation, he was back, and now she felt cornered, hackles up, ready to hiss, spit and fight. Her face was already contorted, ugly with anger, as she listened to each loud, heavy step; he could have made an effort to at least try and sneak into the house and that he didn't so much as bother to try to sneak in only worsened her ire. He just walked right in the door, late late late at night, like it was okay, like that was his right, like it didn't matter at all to him if she did hear him, because he owed her no explanations. Fine! She was in no mood to talk anyway, and there was no way she was going to pull off trying to feign some welcoming attitude; she hated him far too much by now. She'd lain in bed awake for hours thinking how much she hated him, and the later it got, the more she felt herself hate him…but he was back…_he was back_.

"Hey," he was nothing but a mass of shoulders that threw a huge, dark shadow across the hallway wall and into the bedroom, but his nearly whispered rasp of a voice pierced the blackness just as he stepped out of the stairwell and into the short end of the hallway, half way into the bedroom where Grecia lay, still trying to look asleep, but her hopes were fading that Merle would believe she was. She heard him sort of chuckle in that way she absolutely didn't want to hear right now, that _'don't blame me, darlin', I'm just doin' what a man does'_ way that for Merle immediately disabled the effects of any venom she tried loosing on him. Merle was now in the room, kicking off combat boots, detaching the bayonet fixed to his prosthetic, going through this nightly routine in the dark, but his cobalt blue eyes shined almost like lights on her. "Y'ain't asleep, girl. We both know it."

Well, there wasn't any sense in still pretending to be asleep, and Grecia couldn't pretend anymore anyway. She'd already felt herself give an annoyed jerk and heard herself grunt at Merle even before she sat up, tucking her knees to her chest with a harsh look of confrontation on her face. If he thought he was just going to amble in here and be happily received like some homecoming hero, he was dead wrong! Her eyes narrowed as she peered at him through the dark, further angered by how he just set about things like she had no reason to be upset with him, just taking off his always unbuttoned, un-tucked shirt he wore over whatever color wife beater he'd chosen to put on that day…ugh, Merle's wardrobe…if it could even be called that…Merle with the unbuttoned, untucked shirts and Daryl with no sleeves…_Daryl… _

Sadness jerked hard at Grecia's anger, made her wince like she were being pummeled with stones. Her breath hitched and her heart hit bottom in her stomach, just lying there, not strong enough to beat, or so it seemed. It was very nearly two years since she'd seen Daryl last and still thoughts of him always caught her off guard no matter how used to them she'd gotten. They were always the most potent, and the made her saddest whenever it was late and she was alone.

It was the worst night of her life, _that_ night on the Hershel's farm…_that_ night when that herd had come out of nowhere, sending everyone scrambling for vehicles, dividing the group that had become such a close family…but before the herd, in the cool of that same late summer night, moonlight turning Grecia's fair skin white against the golden hue of Daryl's tan, his muscle heavy arms around her as he slid deeper and deeper and deeper inside of her, the entirety of her his, and the entirety of him hers, for the first time…for the last time…the group was giving them a wedding the next morning…_no…not now_…

Grecia shook off the sorrow, hurt and the wondering if Daryl was still alive; there were no answers, and only time would ever heal the pain…time and…and…she huffed and shook her head, steeling herself with the annoyance Merle had riled in her, looking at him coldly. "Do you know what time it is?"

Merle shrugged like it was nothing. "Goin' by my watch, about quarter after two last time I checked," he told her, yanking at his belt buckle while simultaneously peeling the wife beater off over his head. But he didn't say anything else, just started undoing the straps that held his self-made prosthetic on and pulled his handless arm from it with a grunt and sigh, taking a minute to inspect the chafed skin on his forearm as he grimaced at it, but he made no attempt at an apology even though his abrupt silence told Grecia he knew he should be making one to her.

But no apology ever came from him; he wasn't going to pay attention to Grecia's foul mood. Nope, Merle was doing his best to act like he had no reason to feel badly, and then out of nowhere, he just moved onto something else…just like a man…just like Merle! He stripped down to those silly black boxer briefs that really were too young for him to be sporting…despite that they almost…sometimes even did…look good on him and that muscled up type of physique he had, then Merle began to crawl into the bed beside her. "Missed the hell outta ya out there all night, Clytie-Jo," the natural drawl in his voice was smooth as velvet now, trying to wrap around her like a cat's tail winding around her legs.

_Clytie-Jo_…what the hell did that even mean? Damn this man, he couldn't even kick enough thought her way to come up with a real pet name for her! While other wives and girlfriends in town were doted on with "honey" or "sweetheart" or "my love," Merle up and called her "Clytie-Jo!" Grecia had accepted that a while back, but right now, it only helped to fuel her displeasure with him, and she easily shrugged off Merle's intentions of smoothing things over by way of the usual 'welcome home' romp.

There never was any romping going on when he got home late, and Merle knew that by now, he was just trying to make like that wasn't so, like he hadn't done anything to upset her, and he seemed to be putting more effort into that tonight than what he usually did. Was he hiding something? That thought made Grecia even angrier and she sneered again then jerked towards him and stiffened, turning to him with a hard scowl. "Don't!" She warned him, her finger appearing between them the instant he tried to draw close and pull her against that big, broad, muscled chest that she'd been tempted to run her hands across even way back when she hated having sex with him, but did so in exchange for the protection of Merle's skill with a gun.

Merle froze a second then just rolled those cobalt blue eyes, sighed heavily and gave her a weary look like if he were ignoring her foul mood, then she was supposed to follow suit. Something had to be up, something out of the ordinary had caused him to have to work late tonight, it had to be, he was trying way too hard to pretend everything was okay. He just shook his head and crooked a grin at her that Grecia also hated. "What's the matter? Don't tell me 'at roofie I give ya wore off already!"

Merle was smiling and quietly laughing but his attempt to make a joke only made Grecia angrier. "I said 'don't!'" She ground out at him, her teeth clenched, head shaking and eyes like slits. He owed her an apology firstly and then he had better tell her what he'd been doing all night, and she was going to get all that from him. "What happened to 'I'll be back 'bout ten pm?'"

Merle's hands instantly moved up in front of him in that "_it's not my fault_" gesture. "Darlin', I gotta work 'til the Governor tells me I'm done workin', y'know 'at!"

"Well, it's past curfew!" That was quite possibly the stupidest argument Grecia could have tried to make, but the words flew out of her mouth before she knew it. She so desperately wanted some kind of trump card here. Merle knew damn well why she got so upset when he was late, so upset that she could get to the point of hating him for being late, and she was going to make him acknowledge what drove her to such a state. If she had to feel it, then so did he!

"Curfew?" Merle repeated, caught off guard by what a lame prosecution she was trying to make with that one. "Well damn if'n y'ain't got me there, darlin'! Now jest'a don't go and tell the Governor on me cuz he'll for sure…" but then Merle paused with a theatrical kind of jerk and crossed his great big arms in front of his broad chest. "Oh wait, that's right, the Governor hisself was with me out there all night long, way past curfew, so uh, who ya gonna go and tell on him 'bout?"

Every word was true, and the look on Merle's face was like a road block, about to put a real impasse on this argument and stop it dead right where it was, and declare the victory that even Grecia knew he'd rightfully won, but she wasn't having that…he was going to apologize, they were going to discuss what he'd put her through tonight, and then he was going to tell her whatever it was he wasn't telling her. It didn't matter to Grecia how ridiculous she was going to sound, she'd suffered all night until she got to hating him for the torture he'd put her through, and Merle was going to know it. She crossed her own arms over her chest. "You were out there taking your sweet time with everything that you were doing so that you'd be late on purpose!"

Merle frowned, his neck twitched some and there was a little flash of fire that plumed in his cobalt blue eyes, but quickly died, though his tone of voice was still spiked with its essence. "Look here, girl! I ain't never been lookin' for a fight with no woman, particularly not with you! Now I come home to ya, ain't I? It may be damn late, but I come on back to ya! Now ya focus yerself on that fact and quit ta' naggin' at me cuz it ain't becomin' of a lady!" He paused again but his eyes stayed on her in a fixing, serious stare, and then he gave her that nod that Merle always gave whenever he meant what he said. "Ya hear?"

Grecia quieted, knowing she should let it go now, Merle meant it, and honestly, she knew he was right, that she should just relax; he was home safe, she should be happy to be with him again, just throw her arms around that big, broad chest and kiss her man…but…_'becomin' of a lady_?' What the hell had he been into tonight that had Merle lecturing her with a line like that? What the hell did Merle Dixon know about being a lady, anyway? Staying out late, making her worry herself near to being crazy, and he wouldn't acknowledge that he'd worried her and wouldn't apologize for doing so and wasn't even going to explain why his being gone so long was necessary? And Grecia was just supposed to accept that? Oh no…oh hell no…she'd been far too wound up by the anxiety he'd caused her all night for her to just let this all go now! Merle was going to start talking, and words twisted and turned in her mind until how to make him do so finally came to her.

Grecia sighed, shook her head at Merle, realizing all of a sudden that she no longer cared if he told her what it was he'd been doing all night. It was something significant,, she could tell that already, and in time, she knew Merle would tell her all about it. But what she wanted the most right now was for him to address how anxious it made her whenever he was out so late. She wanted to know he understood how hard it was on her, what it made her feel, how much he could help put her worries to rest if he'd just…just…well, Merle wouldn't make the promise to her that Grecia was really fishing for, she knew it, but still, on she fished. Her anxiety wasn't something she felt like she had any control over after all, and it made her want things she knew could never be.

Grecia always had something peculiar going on with her it seemed. First paralyzing fear of everything back when the outbreak was still news, not to mention the pure mess she'd been long before anyone imagined that the dead would walk the earth, devouring the living…oh, Grecia preferred to think that she hadn't really been that supermodel, reality TV show, anorexic, centerfold, worthless thing that she'd been back in the world…she'd come far from where she'd started, that was for sure, but now it was these bouts of anxiety that whispered again and again in her ear that she'd never see Merle again the second it got dark and he wasn't back. She just wanted him to understand, and then, if he could, to make it all stop. She looked up at him, locked eyes with him and could feel tears want to bust loose. "You know there was one time that you DIDN'T come back to me…"

She didn't raise her voice, she knew her words alone would get the reaction out of Merle that she got, watching his big, powerful body kind of deflate and heard him exhale like he just couldn't stand himself anymore. His head sank forward like it was heavy with memories that he'd rather not have, his handless arm giving a fitful jump like he'd have been making a fist right now had he still been able to, and when he looked back up at her, there was fire erupting in his cobalt blue eyes again, and this time it wasn't dying out.

He was shaking his head, his lower teeth pushed tensely into the inside of his bottom lip as he stared her down, muscles twitching beneath the chafed skin of his handless arm the whole time. And finally, after what seemed like a long time, he just up and started yelling right at her. "Don'tja go bringin' 'at old shit up to me! I wadn't nuthin' ta' ya back then, girl! So don'tja sit there all pious and piteous like ya did nuthin' but lay 'round 'at old camp outside 'a Atlanta justa cryin' yer pretty eyes out cuz 'at damn cop left ol' Merle behind on 'at roof! All you and me was back in them days was business, and you ain't cried a lick over me back then and y'know it!"

Grecia's heart was racing, she was shaking her head frantically, words teaming at her lips to tell Merle how many ways he was wrong about that, even if she hadn't cried over losing him proper, and she was set to tell him that even though he hadn't meant much more to her other than protection back then in the Atlanta camp, that his disappearance only fueled her current fears of losing him, but when she opened her mouth to speak, it wasn't her voice that either of them heard.

It had started as a brief little gurgle, cut by a cough and then a sputter, but was now a loud wail from the room across the short hallway. Blankets rustled and the crying continued at an even pace that had both Grecia and Merle sighing regretfully.

"Damn it," Merle breathed in a vehement, harsh whisper as he looked down the hall at the baby that fussed and tried to pull himself up, his little hands wrapped around the rail of the crib Merle had scavenged not so long ago. Merle's face shifted to a mix of guilt and fear, looking on like he always did whenever the baby cried, like he always suspected it meant something horrible was wrong, even when it wasn't.

"Ain't meant ta wake the boy," he said; his voice softer now even though it was still a bit tense. He sighed and turned an apologetic visage towards Grecia, but he made no move to tend the crying child. "Go on ta' him," he told her, just like he always did whenever the baby made any unhappy sound. Merle saw to it that their son was provided for and safe, but he never touched the boy. Said that if he never touched him, then he'd also never go and beat on him, and Grecia had decided that was another argument that wasn't worth having.

But Grecia didn't get out of the bed, she just sat there listening, giving Merle a confident look. "Give him a minute," she advised over the baby's cries and then both she and Merle kept completely silent, waiting as the noise began to subside gradually, no longer a cry, just a murmur, then the mattress and blankets rustled as their son lay back down, the murmur now a slight gurgle…then nothing but deep, sleeping breaths. In the new calm, Grecia smiled; it had been heart-wrenching not to let herself run to her baby every time he cried, but it was important that children learned to be quiet in this world now, and finally her restraint was paying off, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by his father either.

"Good boy, Merle Lee, good boy." Merle softly called towards the once again sleeping child, and took an additional second or two to gaze into the little one's room, the tenseness leaving his strong body, his features softening as much as they were ever able to as he turned back to Grecia with another heavy sigh. "You gotta get yerself over this, darlin'." He told her now and seemed suddenly exhausted; lying down on his back next to her in their bed, but his cobalt eyes never left her. "What's past is past, ain't it? So stop ta' bringin' it up ta' me ev'ry time ya get ta' feelin' ancy 'bout how late I'm gone. Ya'd ruther be out there with me jest like it were before the boy come, I get 'at, I do, girl. But that ain't how it is no more, and ya gotta learn ta' be as brave as ya was out there with me right'chere at home with the boy no matter ta' how late I'm away from ya's."

Grecia looked away from him, but she nodded. Merle was right, even though having that plan laid out for her didn't help her to accomplish the task he'd spoke of any. It wasn't like she could just turn off the anxiety when it overtook her; but she wished she could, wanted that power more than Merle did! And maybe it was wrong of her…yeah, it was wrong of her…but need to have Merle swear to her what she knew he couldn't swar to her was stronger than ever…it would ease her mind faster than anything…even if Grecia's rational senses told her all along how impossible a promise that would be for Merle to keep to her…but still, she heard herself saying, "isn't there any way we can agree that you'll always be home by curfew?"

Merle raised himself up on his elbows, big biceps pumping up like balloons, catching Grecia's eye so that she wouldn't have to see how he was looking at her…it wasn't a harsh look, it was a pitiful look with a lot of helpless innocence shining in Merle's cobalt eyes that was such a rare thing to see. He wasn't about to yell at her, but Grecia wished he would…anything besides what she knew he was going to have to say, that he couldn't promise that, that until something changed, where he was and for how long was up to the Governor, not him, and not her either. But just before he spoke, something changed on his face, something that made the concern for her in his eyes even harder to bear, and once more Grecia was overwhelmed with wonder about what it was he'd been part of tonight.

"Y'know what all's got ya spooked like y'ar 'bout this me comin' in late shit, and it ain't nuthin' ta do with that day I didn't come back ta 'at old camp we made our little bodyguard deal in." Merle paused, wanting her to look at him, but Grecia wouldn't, and so he just continued. "Wadn't me what abandoned ya on 'at farm ya come from nearly two years back. Wadn't me what lov'd and left ya behind to find yer own way through a hungry horde 'a biters. Was my little brother what did 'at ta ya…ain't nobody knows his reasons for it but him, and ya gotta let it g—"

_No! Stop talking_! Why, of all things, had Merle chosen to bring that up as the source of her anxiety? The tears were back in Grecia's eyes again, but before they could fall, before Merle had finished his sentence, Grecia's feet were on the floor and she was hustling out of the bedroom, into the hallway to the stairwell, running from the past that haunted her still. She'd grown to love Merle more than she'd ever imagined she could, she never ever wanted to leave his side, never…but…hadn't she and Daryl said the same to one another not so long before…and then…Merle's voice cut off the painful thought.

"Where ya goin' now?" He called after her in a frustrated hiss, careful not to wake Merle Lee again as Grecia put one foot down on the first stair step.

"Your arm," she replied like nothing was making her feel as badly as she did…but the deeper the memory of watching Daryl tearing away with Carol on the back of that old Triumph through the biter herd bored into her, the more Grecia began to understand how Merle was right…that was where her anxiety about being left alone at night came from. But she didn't want to talk about it, or hear anymore about it; she just wanted to get away. She looked back at Merle, swallowed hard, and did her best to put Daryl out of her mind…one more time. "You need the Caldecort; whatever you were doing tonight has the metal rubbing it raw."

Merle glanced down at the inflammation above the stump where his hand used to be but looked back at Grecia almost immediately, shaking his head at her again. "Ain't like ta' kill me," he said, but his words stopped abruptly as though he'd had more to say that he for some reason decided not tell her. Instead, he sighed again and kept that concerned gaze on her. "Go on, " he gave her a defeated wave to move forward, but before Grecia could get away, or even start to wonder what was wrong, Merle was talking to her again. "Ya got yer scars, darlin', ain't a one of us what don't anymore. But I'm gonna needja to buck up more 'an ya been doin' so far when it comes ta friends leavin' ya for the biters what overrun that old farm ya used to call home…cuz less'n I miss my guess, we all jest found somethin' in the woods today what could be 'xactly what the little coup we been plannin' needs to overthrow our _honorable_ Governor."

_Author's Note:_ Thank you for reading! I owe my regular readers a huge apology when it comes to how I disappeared with no explanation. Due to an ongoing conflict it became necessary for me to step away from the internet and fanfiction for a few months while my husband dealt with a serious issue. I thank all of you who looked for me and I am very sorry to make you have to look for me! I only just saw all of your messages to me at the end of March and I have been trying to find the best way to reach out to all of you again. I have missed my many friends that I have made here at ffnet and I hope that we, like Grecia and Merle, can have our own reunion very soon! I love you all and I hope that you all have been well!


End file.
